Rowan Atkinson's EXCELLENT article on why EV = NO. 

Yep, common sense. I agree. But some details were forgotten. -Synthetic fuel is three times less efficient than batteries. (maybe twice if we weight the manufacturing also) -In cities synthetic still means fumes. (I personally like to se no cars at all in cities. ) Go fucking underground if you want fast. Sure this mean investment in tunnels. But this will mean no more crossings an waiting at red lights, so faster transit. Also with tunnels there, cables and pipes can have a place there, and be replaced without ruining the roads every decade. -And I forgot something. It is not about electric cars themselves, but about fossils, burning stuff. We know that oil is not infinite, and that is bad burning it. This was promoted since long time ago, I grew up half a century ago with this idea. We knew it, but nobody was doing anything to solve the problem. Eh, almost anything. More filters, less pollution. But the consensus was that burning oil is bad, nobody took the side of oil industry, but we all acted like there is still plenty of time, and is the problem of future generations to solve it. Now, a future generation is here, and started to solve it, but also there is fighting against the transition even meantime the global warming has became an pressing issue. Somebody is feeding bullshit to the public opinion. Like the cobalt and child labor. Come on. why this became so pressing, and nobody raised the issue 50 years ago? it was there back then too! Other bullshit is that there is still plenty of oil and coal. And that there are undiscovered deposits. Sure, we will find for 50 more years, 500 to push it to absurd, but then what? No more fossil to kickstart the renewables and humanity just revert to stone age? There is even an claim that oil is regenerating. Who TF would push this idea? And it hurts me to see smart and educated people repeating it to me. Outraged I dismiss it, and the man admits, Oh, sure, but I want confort. And I want it now, and I want it cheap. Sure, than say that you do not care, not that oil is regenerating. I know that some oil may be generated as was for millions of years, but how many seconds will cover an year of such production at global level? Anyway, the transition costs a lot, and should be made with the money that belong to those who got rich in oil and coal, not with students money. But the rich use their money to make stupid propaganda about how bad are the electric cars and solar panels instead of using the money for research and transition. And this is why electric cars are still expensive and not good enough. So, not buying an electric car, not yet, is just passing the cost of transition to somebody else. Buying a new car at every three years sure has its bad part, but tell me, how many students bought a new car in first year and then another one at graduation? I bet that majority of them bought an used one, and could afford it precisely because those could afford new cars, replaced theirs, and flooded the used car marked, making them cheap. Let assume that suddenly now, everybody stop for two years to buy a new car. in few months the stock of used cars will be gone. The price will hike up, and those just becoming independent today will have to walk, or get a loan for an expensive car. In other words they will finance the transition with a loan. So yeah, common sense. But also common sense is that if you can afford to buy an electric car you should buy it, to finance the transition. Better now, when there is still oil to make the transition smooth. If we wait 50 years, and oil will get scarce than the transition will be a lot more expensive. Sure, will be not us to pay the price. Will be our grandchildren. It is common sense to let our grandchildren pay the price?

My euro5 diesel car ( which I bought to be eco friendly) is 11 yrs old does 50 MLS per gallon around town 70+ on motorways and nowadays does 3000 MLS a year. That's about as eco friendly as any vehicle can be but will fall foul of the ulez scam. What a scam sad k,* nt is advocating.

I said almost literally word for word the same thing over 10 years ago on the mighty car mods forum. That includes everything said about hydrogen.

He has exactly the same degree as me. I have work in the electric car industry and I can tell you it’s the real deal. It’s one thing to have a degree. It is entirely another thing to have practice the art and science of the engineering. So sorry, Mr. Bean has not i’m going to give you a thumbs down not because I dislike you. First of all your video is unprofessional, just sitting in a car and reading from a script. Secondly, the person you are using as a credible reference is not really credible. Lots of people have all kinds of college degrees. When I finally went to work, I can say that my college education helped me, but, I was astonished by what I learned in the practice of engineering.

@@Flyingdutchy33 : hydrogen car in whatever form is not economical. Electric cars are here to stay using battery chemistry, and I don’t want to be a Luddite like you guys. Sad to say, somebody has to play the Fall guy. Thanks for volunteering!

Being paid off feels good to boot.

That’s one thing I noticed in Japan when I lived there in 2007, though it’s hard to date the cars since the models are completely different, they all looked newish

Alot of our pre 2000 cars dissapeared after the 2009 scrappage scheme to keep the car industry afloat. They gave people £2k for any old car against a new one

@@six7529 I never knew they did that! That might explain it, thanks for the info.

Also don't forget that UK and Japan are one of the few countries with a strong economy at least, that drive on the left side of the road, which means most cars will have the the wrong configuration to be viable to export for most emerging markets (that usually import used cars). That means that the prices are lower and the supply often outweighs the demand, and they would be even lower if there wasn't for the people changing their cars every few months like they are bedsheets (something I noticed here in the UK compared to my country) which tends to create a fake economy of sorts (and this applies to everything, electronics etc). Since the economy is better, new cars are still being manufactured, which in turn pushes for schemes and legislation to replenish the existing pool of cars.

​@@martij30 As Six said above, the scrappage scheme or "scam" as I prefer to call it was a travesty for older car lovers. However not all cars got the £2k, it HAD to be road legal with an mot. They also had to be certified with a destruction notice, meaning they were't allowed to be returned to the road. The opposite of what "green" really is. The amount of really rare old cars traded in was staggering. I believe a lot are still being stored in the open rotting away on an airfield, have a little search for them, Porsches, BMWs, Mercs, Morris Minors, all sorts.

I doubt that you do - own them. If the model is similar to the UK You are only the registered keeper - responsible for taxes and fines. Ultimately the system owns the vehicle. DYODD

Old diesels are OK in rural areas. But I wouldn't make a habit of driving them in towns, as they are really bad for air quality. It not too bad in rural areas, as emission dissipate to safe levels, but in the enclosed street on built up areas, and combined with other vehicles they are not good. I drive a diesel.

Whatever the question, 'diesel' is never the answer. They are the most dangerously polluting of all ICEs. If you want to your bit to reduce that problem, ignore EVs (for now), but switch to petrol asap.

Parts are another source of revenue for dealers

All to no avail when there is no fuel.

I agree. I enjoyed reading his article on the freedom of expression and agree that this Cambridge-educated gentleman has a Jester’s License!

Yep ... and the "jester" has common sense, and a brain to drive it !!!

I had no idea Rowan studied engineering and electronics!

@JoseLopez-tk4tq Many people don't - he's a sane analytical mind, and a brilliant comedian to boot !!!

@@paulreid2223~ I have seen the Beans and the entire Black Adder series. Knowing he is a man with a scientific bent has caused a new level of admiration and respect in this viewer.

Imagine trying to replace a sedan with a 3.9 V8 twinturbo diesel. Low revving, locomotive torque, makes the eight cylinder noises and barely uses fuel. There is no equivalent on the current car market. The wide adoption of 3-cylinder engines makes you think of motoring in communism. The world in which you are lucky to have a car at all.

You love it enough to pay $10-15/gal in 5-6 years when an EV costs 1/3rd of what a gas car does today?

I have 2 cars a 1991 landcruiser - still going. And a Saab 900s convertible (hasn't been driven for 10 years but kept in garage and should be good after a it of maintenance) I figure I've had less impact over 30 years than most people who've had 4 or 5 cars in the same time.

@@davefroman4700 In a word “yes”. Liquid fuel will be with us for a long time yet. I’ll pay what it costs, it will still be cheaper than buying an EV (sunk costs of an EV outweigh most if not all extra petrol costs)

@@MrButtonpresser BS. Ive got 250,000 miles on my Tesla. The only thing Ive had to do is fix a couple of broken trim pieces, tires, and shocks. Even the brakes are like new still. And the battery is still at 92% capacity. It cost me $400 to put a charger in my house. And it costs me 60% less in fuel compared to my Dodge Journey I got rid of. My uncle has one he is using as a taxi in Montreal. And even with being on the super charger twice a day it still lasted almost 380k before he had to replace the battery. Which incidentally cost him $8k and took all of an hour. Its costing him half as much as his Prius used to cost to run. And a Model 3 and Y are now less than the average selling cost of a new car in the US. Some states a Model 3 is $27,500 after rebates.

Dangerously high and illegal levels of air pollution which creates respiratory diseases that cost the tax payer billions

There's no conspiracy theory. You can keep your ICE vehicles as long as you want. Most people don't care what they drive and use a car purely to get from A-B with their families and other stuff. On PCP etc which is how nearly all cars are bought now as the fuel costs are significantly less especially when charging at home then the higher monthly cost (due to higher purchase price) isn't an issue. Over the finance term they'll have saved money. So they 'buy' or PCP the EV.

There is always a hiddene agenda, like the 15 minute citys keeping people locked up, and have to ask permission to travel, I'll keep my ice car thanks, these EVs, and charging points are not working.

​@@Jamessansomesure,just ingnore blackrock owner admiting he is trying to force culture change with his company

It's more about the new steel alloys they use now. They didnt even exist ten years ago

And more driving pleasure than a soulless EV. Win Win

They should let people pick their mind petrol, hybrid, diesel, EV

back in the day, the same whining was heard when horses & carriages are being prohibited from using highways & major streets, to give way for the new king of the road - the petrol cars. Fast forward to the future, No matter how much youve become inlove with intenal combustion vehicles, the times are changing (again). And theres no stopping it. EVs are here to stay.

@loydireyes5054 I was just thinking the other day that weird EVers keep saying this. It's a rubbish comparison. It's more like the difference between a shire horse and cart and normal horse and cart. It's nothing like the difference between horse and cart and petrol car! That makes EVs sound like some wonderful new invention, which they most certainly ARE NOT. In fact, they tried EVs back then and realised they were rubbish, even then. EVs are dying a slow death that is speeding up day by day. The more people realise they are excrement, the more people don't buy them. There is not one single good reason to buy an EV. Mark my words, and remember I said this: 10 years from now, in 2034, EVs would have died a death a long time ago. Look into it. People are even developing combustion engines that run on water now, and also hydrogen combustion engines, not to mention synthetic fuel. Anything is better than a car powered by a BATTERY! The battery power is the issue.

​@@alivekicking6247 thank you for the heads up. honestly, im not too sure if we are still here in 10 yrs time :) i mean i do pray for your health & mine. if battery is the problem, well, theres an infinite ways to kill a cat, or to address the issue. the main idea here is to move away from oil cartel & combusting fossil fuel. maybe at the very least we can have a combustion engine of hydrogen but not directly connected to the drive train, instead it charges a smaller battery pack (just an example). the100+ yr old technology of combustion engine directly pushing the drive train is inefficient & obsolete. and more than 3/4 of the cars functionality is already electric! therefore electric motors powering the wheels torque is the way to go. of course you can keep your beloved ice vehicles to your hearts content. after all its a free world.

Net Zero means Everything Zero

I think what you will see is similar to what is happening in Manchester where private hire is bypassing our local licencing and regulation by having cars registered in Wolverhampton, I think the safety of passengers comes into the question when the local licencing authority has no jurisdiction over the fleet.

Is the loss of drivers due to low availability of man power after Brexit or is it the pay that is to low? If it is the last, would a higher pay increase the number of taxi drivers?

It is so easy, is it not, to introduce new regulations as the people in charge don't have to pay for the changes. Sadly another example of poor government.

Benefits of BEV? I cannot think of one and I too have qualified in electrical and electronic engineering as well as IT.

What car do you have?

Mine is a 2005. Still rolling.

2006 RS50 here

How much do you all give to your mechanics to fix your vehicles yearly ?? Bet it is fun doing that....

Hoping ? Grow a backbone.

But it's a diesel - the most dangerously polluting of all ICEs. Forget EVs (for now), but please (I speak as a parent) replace it with a petrol car.

@@paulhaynes8045 No. I will not be dictated by you or anyone. So I will keep my car as I like it and I keep very well maintained. So if you took your time and read about the amount of harmful pollutants from the electrical generation plants around the world then you should badger the Energy company's and not motorists which incidentally only contributed 12.6% harmful emissions compared to Global Emissions from Energy and industry of 59.6%. Stop blaming Car drivers and start blaming the real sources of the pollution. All of this information is available if you took the time to research and read about it. So sod off and go hassel them.

@@paulhaynes8045 I agree. I will never buy a diesel. I had one once.

I can happily endorse everything you've said here, apart from your claim that CO2 is a problem. Please look up Prof William Happer of Princeton university for further details.

Also older cars, you're less worried about scratches, etc.

​@@Gary-bz1rfbc we built shocking products. Shocking. Take the Morris Marina. Basically a straight forward use of a design that was penned in 1947 (by Isigonis). Meanwhile the Germans and Italians were all moved onto twin cam engines, independent live geometry suspension and style.

Well at least it is unlikely to be stolen, just like my 23 year old 406

They can`t make all the new cars in the EU (OK somehow UK is still there) electric by 2035! Ok, we got all-electric cars...FREE. THe electric energy is Free. How the F*** are we gonna charge them with the current power infrastructure ?! Will not handle it at all! All the fuses will blow up and all the transformers will be overloaded in a short time! This is simply utopia.

Isn't there a car indirectly powered by beans? Surprised RA didn't mention it.

@@foppo100 I wish more people would see this! But no such luck. The average imbecile who buys EV is all puffed up and virtue-signalling (remember the plan-demic?!), but when you ask them anything about their machine they'll parrot the marketing mantra or they'll stare at you blankly. The "climate crisis' is the next step in returning Western populations to a medieval lifestyle under a techno-Communism. The "capstone event" as it has been called by those behind the agenda was the plan-demic which turned out to be the greatest transfer of wealth in all of history. In any case, I thank you for your comment and we must continue to hammer away at the thick heads that surround us to make them see this crucial fact which they seem incapable of understanding: The elite hate us. Thanks and God Bless!

The fact that is overlooked with EVs is the extra weight and performance producing more pollution from rubber and more wear and tear on the road surface. I think they should pay more road tax I am surprised they haven't banned motor racing yet one formula one race must produce more pollution than a small town of people driving to work and back in their family cars. Just saying. A bit like Theta Grunberge sailing across the Atlantic for a conference in the USA saying it was a carbon 0 footprint but forgetting to tell us that 7 of the crew that sailed over there then flew back on a commercial jet. Would have been a better footprint for her to fly over in the first place

​@ianmcnulty3279 doesn't our government support the War in Ukraine with our money? I wonder what the carbon footprint of that will tot up to? A s£#t ton more than the average family sedan I would wager.

C02 is dangerously low.. we are in danger of desertification, luckily volcanoes are popping off left right and centre

Trees and plants need all our c02 🤷🏻‍♂️

It is not an assumption. It is a demonstrable fact. CO2 is absorber of infra-red energy which it re-emits, half of it toward the Earth. More CO2, more heating. Venus had a runaway greenhouse effect due to CO2 in the atmosphere about 3-4 billlion years ago. It is not the only greenhouse gas but it is the most produced and hence the need to reduce it.

​@@Blackmamba12345 where do you live and do you drive a motor vehicle at all?

Re: "This is still all on the assumption that co2 is somehow our enemy." Without Co2, no plants, no food, no Humanity!

Hold on to that A2

You could run it for another 50 years and produce less pollution than the manufacture and transport of a single EV battery.

Government solutions nearly always involve raising taxes and spending our money.

They know the actual problem extremely well. The problem is ignorant masses believing them when they tell their lies about what the problem is. Hint: it's not emissions.

@@varmastiko2908 no, it is emissions, among other human things. That much has been objectively demonstrated as a fact countless times for over a decade already, and not by people in governments. Carbon signatures leave no room for interpretation or doubt.

@@skaruts I'm afraid you don't quite understand how the control system works. The truth is not publicly spoken about and is also a forbidden subject in science institutions. Essentially everyone is bought off because everyone needs to retain their job to pay their bills. And the media system only lets out what their owners allow.

@@skaruts Emissions are much more than what comes out of the tailpipe, Electric has an emissions cost and so does building cars, a car that carries on working for 25 to 30 years has one set of build emissions wheras an EV will last 10 years if you are lucky and 3 will be required in the same timeframe, as the cost of a battery pack will financialy write off EVs prematurely.We need a huge leap forwards in battery technology to make longer lasting (300% longer) batteries before the build emissionms equalise and ofset the tailpipe emissions.We also need to ban massive overweight cars and move back frm SUV types to smaller engined lighter cars, as fuel burnt is directly proportional to mass moved.The thing about vehicle emissions is, most people actualy need a vehicle, wheras we seem to give a free pass to the aviation and cruise industries that facilitate and encourage frivolous unessessary travel for foreign hollidays.Prioritise tha right targets please!

Your argument is correct, in my view. But that's an argument against producing ANY new vehicle - EV or otherwise.

@@peeteebee123 Not any new vehicle, just producing an endless stream of disposable garbage. Make something that will last a lifetime (besides repairs), and the number of things that will need to be produced will be drastically reduced. If it NEEDS to be completely replaced every couple years or so, its garbage from the start. And its often not even recyclable. "Green" = Wasteful.

@@SvendleBerries Absolutely agree. My point was that this is not argument against EVs specifically.

it's funny how people always get nervous when you extrapolate the "double the resources" argument to having children. Doubling your own consumption footprint in an already overburdened planetary system is much more harmful than buying so-called sustainable or repairable products and services. Repairing a product that consists of mined and refined materials is never as environmentally friendly as not buying it in the first place. The most important argument for or against EVs is how renewable the batteries and the energy used to charge them are. More people equals more primary industry equals more destruction of the planet. You, as an engineer, forgot the most circular material, literally requiring scrap "recycling" in the most popular production processes, that is also essential to car manufacturing and building in general: Steel. Steelmaking and the logistic chains required for it are utterly destructive despite the fact that the product is perfectly recyclable.

Answer = ULEZ the environments enemy.

But where is all this extra requirement for sugar grown? On land 'reclaimed' from the rain forest, perhaps? No 'solution' is cost/problem free, I'm afraid.

@paulhaynes8045 The amazon area represents a small fraction of land available in Brazil, there's no requirement in Brazil to have extra need of the Amazonian land , The French have an Interest there , & busy logging huge areas, don't believe all you here on the BBC ' s of the world, The climate in Brasil can produce 3 crops of sugar cane per year, & solves a good percentage of fuels for cars. Without using oil.

I drive a 2014 Prius with almost 200k miles. I plan to buy a 2023 Prius sometime around 2028 haha

I average about 1 car every 10 years. Treat them nice and they will repay the favor. Car number 3 is currently 11 years old and still going strong.

The only older hybrids i see around here are Honda's. They seem to just keep going.

There is not enough energy in elec. to run EV cars for the nation. USA needs 9560 petaJoules of energy to run all the passenger cars per year. A nuclear reactor, large one, makes 17 petaJoules. Math not looking good.

​@Jon VB In terms of CO2 emissions, the production of a Tesla class battery is estimated to be about the same as driving a gasoline car for 8 years. This is mostly due to sourcing of raw materials. Also, Tesla's price is partly subsidized by taxpayers. Though this doesn't necessarily make a Tesla a poor choice in all use cases, there are cases where it isn't the best choice.

How much do you spend a year on maintenance, considering you drive it daily....I bet a lot....

@@celtics2008champs1 Last year- not a bean.

​@@SimonWallwork Not true. I had a car for 17 years, and I did a lot of maintenance every year. Due to roads contition I changed completedly the front suspension, the four shocks, the full set of brake pads, the 4 rotors every two years (a mountain country, never resurfaced them) brake fluid every 2 years). Batteries last no matter the price about 2 years (vibration kills them). Unlesss you live in a flat terrain, drive slowly, and few miles per year. I moved to a level area, buy a Bolt. No more gasoline, no more brake maintenance for a looong time, oil changes, no visits to the dealer., et. Charge at home with only 110 volts ac. Never used the 22v ac.

A: it may well be true for him, for last year specifically. B: Starter batteries last a lot longer than that in the Uk generally. I’ve heard folks from the US say they needed to change the battery every couple of years but you’d get closer to 10 years in the Uk typically, so it must be something other than vibration that is the issue for you.

@@EnriqueThiele Well I bought a classic car 10 years ago, battery was already some years old, I still got that car and the battery is still fine after I guess 13-14 years at least.

I own a 1976 triumph spitfire restored it twice since i bought it almost 30yrs ago.

I have a Benz W210 that my father bought in 1998. 2.9 diesel, 6l/100km, and still drives strong. It's nothing special, but spare parts are cheap, easy to repair and will always take me where I want.

My car is a 2012 Nissan Qashqai diesel 1.5dci, bought used in 2016. It has a super-eco engine with very low emissions (allegedly - as the owner I don't care if Nissan fiddled the emissions figures or not - that's their problem) that means I only have to pay £30 per year in road tax. As both myself and my wife are over 50 we also get cheap insurance to boot and we have no plans to replace it anytime soon. An EV would be of no use at all to us as we live in rural Wales where the charging infrastructure is almost non-existent and we regularly make journeys of 150 miles or more, so most of the time we couldn't complete a round trip without having to spend ages recharging. And of course that's the next big issue that nobody seems to want to talk about - charging times. Even rapid chargers tend to take 20-30 minutes, whereas I can fill the tank and be on my way in less than 3 minutes. Are we going to see miles-long queues at the charging stations? The government simply haven't thought this out properly (no surprise there of course - when do they ever?)

@@countzero1136 the points you make here have been entirely overlooked. I am from the Southwest US, where sometimes even finding a gas station is a challenge. The market needs to drive the adoption of EVs, not government mandates.

Great car!

what do you mean by "catastrophic unfairness", people still have choices currently to buy whatever they want, consumers drive the market.

Fool !

@@celtics2008champs1 No we don't... THAT is the point. I can't buy whatever I want as I have no money. I invested what I had in a very good second-hand diesel car a year ago, and it is now NOT ALLOWED in the 4 largest Scottish cities where I did most of my work before being forced to retire this month. So NO... I CAN'T buy whatever I like... I am being forced to buy something I can't afford when I have a perfectly good vehicle which I had planned to use for a few more years. I can't even go back to the dealership where I bought the car to have it serviced as it is in the new zone in Glasgow. At least the dealer recognised this and announced plans to move out of Glasgow this week. The AIR in Glasgow is not polluted... it is NOT killing people... in fact it has improved massively with the removal of the thousands of buses which were replaced by electric ones... THEY CAN AFFORD THAT.... I CAN'T. PS..it is only about ten or twenty years ago that the government ran advertisements to GET PEOPLE INTO DIESELS, so I did. I have paid through the nose for it since, with high fuel tax, constant servicing to keep it friendly, and even paid £500 on road tax when I could afford a better car just 5 years ago. That went with Covid and the lack of support for self-employed, so I bought second-hand to cut my cloth accordingly. ALL THOSE CHOICES NO LONGER EXIST.

@J Doe customers drive the market is oversimplifying and not considering monopolies and corporate capture.

How is Rowan privileged? Do you know his life story? He is very good at what he does and has been paid well for it.

Ahh - No.

Unfortunately he hasn't the tiniest clue what a 'rare earth' is and is completely WRONG on that point !

Totally agree - push for EVs has nothing to do with care for environment. It’s all about money and control. Billionaires can’t be bothered making products people want they now create propaganda to guilt people and lobby politicians to mandate their products 🤬 My car is 14 years old, I love it more now than I did when I bought it because it’s been so reliable and is exactly what I need.

@@TuataraAggressor With a degree in electrical engineering and a masters in control systems

@@hayd7371 From the 70s and zero experience in the automotive industry.

This.

That's true of people who buy new or nearly new cars. Some of us just want the most cost effective transport we can get.

It is sad. I'm an insurance broker and see this daily. The fact I gave up driving in 2008 has absolutely NO impression on people. They think I am strange, but then again, don't own a cell-phone or cable. Buy the best top model older car you can find, they make them better.

eFuels is gonna be something for super rich people. Even if we ever manage to produce enough, it is simply to expensive to produce. And there is not much room for scaling up production, you won't get a liter for under 10 Euro same as hydrogen. Though hydrogen use in cars is extremally stupid anyway, especially if you burn it.... Right now, the planed world wide production of eFuels by 2035 isn't even enough to cover 10% of the yearly needed eFuels in germany, and that is if you limit it's use to commercial use in ships, airplanes and the industry. If we add cars, trucks, busses and trains to that it's even far far less.

The amazing Niels Heusinkveld of SimRacing fame and Jimmy Broadbend long support status =D Nice to see you here and interested in your opinion!

Being in the repair industry, There is a balance of value/cost to repair. And in order to innovate an industry has to have sales of new inventory or capitol.

@@louissabo3191 yes and that is exactly not the way forward for the environment. I can't see it happening but this really would have to change, along with our sometimes silly consumption habit. I will buy a hat and eat it if there are signs of this happening though. We prefer to pretend to be green after all.

@@louissabo3191 That's the thing though, technology and innovation is what got us here in the first place If it wasn't for innovation and technology advancements over the last Century+ of time, we wouldn't have many of the problems we face today. All the advancements do not truly fix anything because often times what they fix, they cause equal and sometimes worse problems elsewhere.

The article was also in the Guardian which is not behind a paywall.

It's not behind a paywall.. it's a Guardian article, not Telegraph; Geoff got it wrong.

@@petesmitt great!

@@nekite1 and it was debunked within weeks

My daily drive is an X400 (X-Type) and it's 21 years old. Looks and goes great ... everything works ... gets treated respectfully in that I keep it clean ... but I do tend to drive it a bit ... ummm .... enthusiastically .... and it's quite a few years since it's lat service, however I believe in preventative maintenance ... so I keep a check on things. Last time I took it to be repaired was 10+ years ago to replace a fuel pump. No big deal. It has a towbar and tows really well. And I look at the price of new cars today, loaded with tech and BS I don't want ... and I think, if the X-Type farts one day, what will I replace it with ... and XF's are getting mighty affordable these days ... find a nice one ... and that's the next 10 years of driving sorted ... if the world doesn't suffer a satanic or alien takeover or summat. But that's a story for another day.

Dear Cupid Crack on, the XType is an excellent car and extremely well made. When it farts its last an XF is an ideal replacement. I have had two 3ltr diesels and loved them both. The S is a lot of fun and goes like a stabbed rat!

How much did you have to spend on servicing that car? I BET an ev equivilant will be a fraction

Strangely enough I looked into this, a full service on a Tesla was quoted at £238. This included a tyre rotation, but to my mind it is quite a lot considering the minimal moving parts. My XJ for a full service that included fully synthetic oil, coolant, all filters etc £220 at the independent garage I have been using for years. I considered buying a Tesla but was put off by the build quality, very evident in the shut lines. Pretty sure I'll be sticking with ice rather than ev for the foreseeable future.

Jaguars converted to electric are more reliable, run better, perform better and will suffer very few maintenance issues. Jaguar's official best ever performance cars were both electric. The professional test driver that trialled them advised tuning back the performance as they were so quick. They certainly put a smile on his face.

Reuse is part of the process. But so is reduce. I feel for people who live in areas with dangerous and illegal levels of pollution caused by vehicles

@@problemchild1976 you can ride or drive whatever you feel is right, I will stick with what I've got because I like it

@@dawdawes even if that is poisoning people in towns?

@@problemchild1976 love to know where you and others get your data from. You have more chance of being knocked down by a bus. I'm going to be honest here. I couldn't care less , you make your own decisions in life. Don't listen to all you read the scare mongers will put you in your grave with all the worry . Live life to the fullest, and stick a finger up to the doo gooders

@@problemchild1976 Container shipping causes more pollution than all cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes combined. As does animal farming. So if we are intent on demonising the motorist, then all consumers and those eating animal products need to take a larger portion of the blame.

But all burning all that coal ain't so great for the quality of air that we breath. It's directly responsible for literally thousands of early deaths and millions of people with health issues every single year. Regardless of what one thinks of the climate impact and how inefficient combustion engines are. 2/3's of your energy input (and thus your money) goes right out via the radiator.. it's crazy.

What sort of car was it?

@@tomkeegan3782 proton saga 1989-2019 stop using because of covid-19.

@@tomkeegan3782 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_Saga Sorry, i do not know much about car.

yes, as long as you managed not to breath in the exhaust fumes over 30 years of driving. Can you imagine how many 55 gal drums that would be - leaking in a warehouse or being spilled onto pristine beach or floating in a hundreds of miles of open ocean. Wake me up the first time a solar panel or a EV battery fouls a beach for the next 20 years.

You know what... I'm pinning this comment. Because you just nailed EVERYTHING in 20 words. Thank you. Oh also, everyone please subscribe if you liked this video. There's plenty more of this style in my 'important videos' playlist. You'll probably learn something, and definitely have a laugh.

@@GeoffBuysCars This is not a new tax, drivers already pay this tax through fuel duty. It's just now the tax will need to be collected via a new mechanism; there's no "red diesel" electricity.

Contrary to popular belief, the climate "science" isn't settled. the West is caught between two ideologies, on the one hand GDP and growth line must go up, on the other we must produce and consume less because green.

@@JohnSmith-zu2sy climate science is settled, unless you consider the less than 5% who disagree. Atmospheric CO2 is 33% higher now than in 1970. Any person who has ever owned a greenhouse knows that greenhouses work by making it warmer by trapping heat. CO2 traps heat, anyone who claims that "science" doesn't prove that doesn't understand science. Science doesn't care about ideologies; this is why some people get so upset about science because science doesn't care about whether you agree or how you feel about it.

@@JohnSmith-zu2sy WOAH there John. U can’t talk common sense on YT, you’ll fry a leftwaffer loons little brain in Silly CON Valley 😂👍✌️🇬🇧

He'd be a real legend if he called out this climate crisis crap for the complete bullshit it is.

He's not saying no, just to not be in such a rush to switch. Keep your old car going.

He isn't saying no to EVs; he is saying you should not have one!

I generally like Rowan Atkinson but I find Mr Bean annoying.

Lol Mr bean is so unfunny it's tragic,however rowan is a legend

That “climate crisis” narrative dates back to the 70’s. That narrative is going to keep being kicked down the political road.

Thanks for trashing the planet

NO. just google it. Any question you may have of and EV vs an ICE car.

Unfortunately it’s not about doing anything that “benefits” our environment, but rather status seeking virtue signalling by the wealthy, who have the bonus of forcing the peasants back to walking…..

??? 🤡

Does your shouting involve going on about lithium? How's your mobile phone powered. Lithium mining was driven by mobile phones

And that's the 3rd video that was filmed today...

I'd sooner get billed by the mile than have to pay £300 VED for a project car I do maybe 100 miles a year in. Seems the fairest solution to bill based on usage - seems like a no brainer to add a little bit to fuel. But then again, that would cost them some revenue from people like me...

Cashcow.

@@BlackLines You think that until the cost per mile increases to more than it costs to take a taxi. Government need a new fleet of armoured NON ULEZ compliant RangeRovers and Limo's because the old ones are getting dirty.. Lets double the cost per mile to pay for those and let's forget to drop the price once the vehicles are paid for? Of course those that fix the costs will be exempt from paying them.

@@BlackLines you're correct that a VED replacement that bills on usage would be far fairer than the current system where an old ICE car incurs a high cost, even if it's barely used, and a new highly-used 'efficient' car is barely charged, despite emitting tyre particulates still, wearing the road (batteries are heavier, but lorries still do the majority of damage). There can still be an emissions multiplier on the per-mile usage.

Surely we could do the same with aeroplanes, they just need a long extension lead 😂

@@bigjd2k well done!!!!…I can’t see any problems with that at all… and then of course there’s cable operated tanks for environmentally friendly carbon neutral warfare…on a foggy day of war how could you possibly find them with those whisper quiet motors….

Both volume and mass of batteries decrease with each year so those problems will solve themselves with time. If we take Tesla Semi as an example, it offers moving 80 thousands LBS at the distance of 500 miles and the batteries are estimated to be below 1 MWh which would make it at most 10 times bigger than Model S battery so it would be about 5 tonnes. And this will only improve with time, as it has been doing for years now.

@@bigjd2kLMFHO brilliant comment 😂

Electric is great for vehicles that can be plugged in all the time like trains or trams.

Lol…man you guys and always having these conspiracy theories. A grand group of “they”, always out to get us. You don’t have to change ever. But EVs are here to stay and getting better every single year.

My EV a BMW i3 is now 7 years old and not one problem in that time. Before this in 2012 bought a Leaf electric but sold it after two years and purchased a plug in Hybrid Ampera which was sold to a neighbour after two years, She is still running it every day with no problems. My i3 a 2016 is still providing the same range as when initially purchased with no problems. For those who are weary of garages I suggest buying an inexpensive scan tool, plug it into the diagnostic socket and if not capable of troubleshooting yourself at least you will be able to communicate with the dealer.

the replies to you highlight the 'always an exception...' but you are right. i have 30 yr old cars- motorbikes twice that. ie my 94 mitsi mirage has very little to go wrong. in nz it is punished by needing a wof- [warrant of fitness-] twice yearly, where everything possible is done to get her off the road; while a new car has a gratis 5 years of wof free- assumed safe. repair costs after a new car fender-bender are massaged thru the roof- with insurance writing off eminently repairable & safe cars in a blink. we have been rear ended twice- left with perfectly driveable mechanically sound cars- taken off us by insurance with enough compensation to buy a pedal tricycle- because a crumple zone in the rear subframe has a small buckle. is there an agenda? of course there bloody is.

@@justinstewart3248 in 2017 the Volkswagen group had to pay a criminal fine of $2.8 billion for cheating the emissions tests. Is it too far a stretch to imagine they may be a little self serving in making their cars? Seems like a healthy suspicion to me. Plastic inlet manifolds surely are about profit over durability. EV's are here to stay, what's not to like about a car with way less parts to go wrong. But probably better to wait till the technology has matured a bit more and they can be made with less impact on the environment. BTW ''they' are out to get me, they told me so on the mothership 😵‍💫

@@markhampson2827 That's what I hate about insurance pay-outs, never enough to replace the car.

It will not age well in the internet world. Another naysayer.

There are articles written in there which they know that the masses won't ever see or hear because of it being behind a pay wall. I don't pay for it, but just listened to what other's have said having read from it.

Free on the guardian's site! Amazing that it's in both Torygraph and Grauniad! Literally on Sunday I was droning on about the weight of electric cars at a barbecue. 😂 God bless Mr Atkinson ❤

@@edwardwharton7107 It's not a Telegraph article.. Geoff got it wrong.

@@edwardwharton7107 I realised that after writing! I was happy to be able to read the essay in full on the guardian website

Nobody who drives under 10-20k miles a year should be considering a new EV, or a new car of any sort, to be honest. Some will, because of the neighbours, or the wife's demands. The real issue is that people who are in the second hand market have a budget. There aren't a lot of second hand EVs, and those there are are not in that budget. So ICE cars are the only option right now for the majority of car owners looking for a new second-hand car. That includes me, a high earner who doesn't drive a lot. Why throw away money on a driveway decoration! But I can only pick from what's available. In 2030, there will be a lot of second hand EVs on the market. New EVs will be far more mature too, better batteries, longer range, cheaper. An 8 year old second hand EV should be within the budget of more people. In addition, most cities will probably have banned (by 2nd generation ULEZ rules) most ICE cars, or be in the process of banning them, forcing those people to EVs. Current ULEZ bans are just for more polluting ICE cars. This is for valid air quality reasons within the cities. This is when the transition to EVs will be very mature. Right now it's still a transition, and for many people that transition isn't mature enough for their needs - valid or not.

@@p80t5turbo Yes I had a friend with a volvo estate that had done nearly 300.000 miles when I used to see him. Never had one but good cars.

I still have my granfathers and my father's 73 and 74 Ford F series. Till 4 years ago they were still on road. My current ones are a 2001 Chevy 1500 with 350000 miles that is just our farm use now and a 2001 suvaru legacy.

I remember my Dad buying a new Standard 10 in the late 1950's. The "10" also referred to the hp. Great little car. Regular journeys Nairobi to Mombasa return.

In the 50's and 60's the problem was less to do with the cost of a new car but the governments import controls restricting the number made here.And in those days cars had to be imported in parts and assembled here. Unless you had a source of overseas funds for the deposit it was very difficult to get on the waiting list.Dealers used to give priority to people like farmers who might also buy a tractor from them -it was all very unfair.I bought a new Ford Anglia with overseas funds in 1964 and sold it for the same price in 1967 when I went overseas. The system kept the price artificially high . But the first car I bought in NZ was 1961 a !955 model Austin ute but it was a rust bucket 2 years later .

We could make our cars last 30 years if we wanted to. We just decided people need to change instead of fixing their car.

Yep, in NZ my first car was my grand fathers car...which when he died became my fathers car...which when I turned 15 became my car. ......50 years later my current car is a 30 year old Nissan Patrol. Will most probably still be going come the Zombie apocalypse

The industry is not about selling cars it's about keeping investors. You can't maintain growth with a shrinking population and a shrinking economy by building durable products.

'90's cars or '90's style cars are the best. '80's were good but I think by the '90's the car had reached perfection. Since then all they've done is try to make them cheaper without making them worse. They are making them worse but you don't find that out for 3 years.

I had a '97 Subaru Legacy with almost 330K miles on it...ran great up until Thursday, when somebody totaled it hitting me on the freeway 😭

@@j3ffn4v4rr0 Yeah and the insurance company value it at net zero. It was practically an antique.

Geoff is right on? This is just a guy ripping off a newspaper article. It’s not Geoff, it’s Rowan Atkinson.

There was nothing educated about that article whatsoever. It’s the same old tropes that have already been trotted out and debunked.

@@sparkymark75 Thank you.

You're right. What was he thinking? Perhaps he wasn't.

@@sparkymark75greed - it takes a hell of a lot of electricity to create hydrogen. People are moaning about lithium batteries burning but how about compressed hydrogen tank that's probably got to be cryogenically cooled to stop it seeping through the molecular skin of the tank ;) And as for ICE.... they remain only 30% efficient no matter what they burn. While an electric motor is 80% efficient. Why don't factories that run production lines use little petrol engines to drive the lines instead of electric motors :) He concluded with electric propulsion is the future but that was glossed over

@@problemchild1976 A good percentage of diesels are now over 40% efficient, and Weichai Power claims to have broken the 50% barrier!! With EV the Traction motor itself may be over 80% efficient but you ignore how the power gets to the car…. A gas power station is about 50% efficient, coupled with power transmission losses (about 8%) and battery charge/discharge losses (li-ion 10-20%) you are at best about 45% efficient with an EV, and this is ignoring other losses in the system like lugging the additional weight of the heavy batteries…. The reason why factories use electric motors is because they are perfect for this application, and they don’t have to lug around their power source. Batteries are heavy and compared to liquid/chemical fuels not particularly energy dense. I have no issue with EVs but first we need to find a better way to store their fuel!!

Yes it would be wonderful if these noble gents who want to do the right thing could just see the light. I hope there aren't any people who reach for power with selfish intentions or your premise would mean you've handed evil people the keys to the kingdom.

Forget that government would listen to the people .... They never did and they will never do. Forget that governments care about the people. They don't. Governments are controlled by the elite behind the screens ... and move to a nice job when they behave as they are ordered to.

I read the rebuttal and some good points challenged but it was funny how the guy from Carbon Brief correctly says no rare earth metals are used in the batteries but conviently "forgets" to mention they are used in the electric motors!

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sytWLB4-W-M.html&ab_channel=TheCarGuys.TV

I’ll have to look for the rebuttal article. No disrespect to Geoff or Rowan but there’s a lot of misrepresentations or incorrect information stated here. For one, mandating battery recycling reduces the energy needed to produce a new battery by about 80%, and current recycling technologies are able to recover about 85% or more of the original material. The point about battery vehicles being used then set aside earlier in the history of the automobile is completely irrelevant and a red herring. Given that mentality, there’s thousands of technologies that we would not be enjoying today because you know… technology *advances*. Materials science advances from 1990 to current day are like night and day, batteries continue to charge faster and hold more charge per unit volume. The Porsche synth-fuel is interesting, but likely to cost around triple what gas / petrol currently costs, possibly only double at large scale production. However, it’s an incredibly inefficient way to produce fuel, I’d have to look up the numbers but I believe only around 20% of the input energy becomes fuel. Whereas using the electrical output to directly charge an EV would result in above 80% of the input energy being used by the vehicle. Furthermore, people cannot produce their own synthetic fuel, unlike rooftop solar which allows consumers to literally power their own cars, requiring no complex production processes or distribution networks to deliver to consumers. Finally hydrogen, which is a non-starter unless it can be made into some other form, such as mixed into a gel that can be used by vehicles. Hydrogen embrittlement of metal containers, valves etc. is a huge problem if attempting to scale to what exists today for regular consumer motoring, not to mention the danger of explosion. It seems Rowan is neglecting to consider the maturation curve that any technology undergoes when it finally becomes mainstream (for EVs and their dramatic improvements over the last decade). Hydrogen *could* play a significant role in decarbonizing large fleet transport such as trucking, ocean freighters and even possibly air travel, but I believe it won’t be cost effective for non-commercial motorists. The one part of this post I wholeheartedly agree with is that vehicles should not be disposable as we treat them nowadays. Not sure how to change that mentality without trampling on people’s rights, but there’s a large contingent of people who simply have to have the latest and greatest car (or insert consumer product here) and that behaviour is difficult to change.

@@sjsomething4936 well even though production costs for synthetic fuel will tumble massively as the technology matures, even if it’s triple what current petrol costs are today we’ll be paying roughly the same as we are now given the tax on fuel (certainly here in the UK) until recently was 75%. Factor in the cost of having to manufacture 1.5 billion new EV’s (@ 9 tons of CO2 to build each one) and it’s obvious going the EV route makes no sense vs. developing synthetic fuel and keeping old ICE cars on the road where the CO2 cost for them was sunk years ago.

​@Jon VB the LFP batteries are mainly for the China market and entry level vehicles. All of the extended range batteries are cobalt based due to higher energy density. "The company also notes that in the coming years, its absolute cobalt demand will increase, because the production growth of batteries and vehicles is forecasted to outpace the overall rate of cobalt reduction on a per-cell basis." Lithium and nickel mining is energy intensive and bad for the environment. If we are to attain Musk's goal of universal EV ownership and use of Tesla batteries for power grid storage, it would require more lithium than the human race has mined in the last century.

The lease model is a wish of the car companies. Makes them a lot more money.

@@germanmosca And it makes the Govt.'s lots of money too because of taxes... Manufactures makes more money and thus they pay more taxes.. The Govt.'s want them making as much money as they can because if they make money, so does the Govt...

Can someone please explain how keeping the original lessee driving a car for years four and five makes a bit of difference for the environment? Surely cars coming off lease in the UK are not melted down for scrap right away. Someone will be driving that car in years four, five, fifteen, etc. until the car is not worth repairing any longer. Can't see how the initial lease term makes any difference in how long a car is on the road. Of course longer leases are a consumer-friendly option and should cost less than three year leases, but that is a different argument. Also, synthetic fuels have been pursued for decades and have not replaced gasoline, so holding them up as an alternative to technologies that are useful today is a bit of a red herring. I wonder if Mr. Atkinson's article was intended more as humor than as an engineering review?

​@@elliottwhitticar2383Yes, I was thinking the same things while I was watching this. Plus the wind + water + CO2 pie in the sky tech just needs "more development" is eerily similar to fusion.

Im pretty sure when a person gets a new vehicle they sell the old one to someone else.

I agree. Decide in your teens if you like a VW or a Subaru or Toyota, buy a car and stick with it for life.

i got rid of cars and love riding a motorcycle

You are singing my song friend! I have owned 3 cars in my life, all were Mustangs. My current steed is 10 years old and taken care of. I'll drive it until the wheels fall off, then put the wheels back on and drive it further!

Hydrogen has a very long way to go before it can be considered a viable alternative to fossil fuels. A very, very long way. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-egTCIyNBpQw.html

The head conversion basically lowers the compression ratio and has a spark plug in place of an injector, kinda sounds like a petrol engine that we used to convert to LPG, could our petrol engines be converted?, now there a thought!!.

Hydrogen is stupid for so many reasons , do look it up

problem with Hydrogen is Iridium and Platinum. It is also highly inefficient.

@@SRB28 Problem with Lithium and Cobalt is that you have to destroy the ecology of the planet, to make the environment clean. Ironic or just plain stupid? Anyway, the whole green thing is a complete money making gimmick and only a certain percentage of the global population will ever benefit financially. As for Third World Countries, well it is hardly going to do anything for them as a good 3 billion don’t have a decent means to cook their food let alone buy an electric car. Never mind, we can always revert to slaughtering every animal on the planet which burps and farts its way through life. That should cure the problem eh?